The Korean branch of Daenerys Entertainment is also located in the Hannam-dong area where foreign companies gather, in a six-story office building near the Han River.
South Korea has allowed overseas film and television companies to distribute movies directly in South Korea since 1983, without the need to go through agency channels like China Film. Therefore, in recent years, Daenerys Entertainment has been responsible for the Korean distribution of films produced by Daenerys Entertainment. In addition, the Korean distribution business of Daenerys Entertainment’s TV, music, and games is also handled by the branch here.
The performance in recent years has been outstanding.
These are the results of the hard work of Mark Belford, Vice President of Global Operations of Daenerys Entertainment.
Compared with Europe or neighboring China and Japan, before the financial crisis, Daenerys Entertainment’s Korean branch was not involved in the production business.
When the news began to spread recently, the Korean film and television industry almost swarmed.
Simon’s plan is to support local companies, just like China, with Daenerys Entertainment standing behind the scenes. Therefore, although there is news that it will directly invest in movies in South Korea under the name of Daenerys Entertainment, the production will basically be done under the names of other shell companies.
The corresponding shell companies, although related to Daenerys Entertainment, basically operate independently.
Among them, Sung Tae Hee is quite special. Only she can have an office at the headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment Korea Branch, where she can exclusively contact some of the filmmakers she likes. Other shell company teams are also selecting projects, but they don't have this kind of treatment.
In an office on the third floor of the Korean branch headquarters, close to the street and with a good view.
This is Thursday, November 20th.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
After lunch, Cheng Taixi, who had already browsed through a thick stack of project materials, welcomed his first guest.
This is a bespectacled young man in his twenties, wearing a meticulous black suit. He is not tall. His biggest feature is that although he has obviously taken care of it, his hair is still as fluffy as a bird's nest.
As soon as he was led in by his secretary, the young man bowed to Cheng Taixi very politely: "Hello, senior, I am Bong Joon-ho. Thank you very much for taking the time to meet me."
Cheng Taixi has become accustomed to these days, even some people who are much older than her are still addressed by various honorifics such as 'senior' and 'ma'am'. This is the case in Korea. In terms of seniority, if your rank is lower than others, you must be honest. The real potential is low and small.
Nodding to the young man named Bong Joon-ho, he motioned for him to sit down in the reception area. Cheng Taixi continued to read the information on a project in his hand, then picked out a folder on his desk, got up and came to the reception area. district.
Feng Junhao quickly stood up and showed humility.
The secretary brought the coffee and waited for the other party to leave. Cheng Taixi did not talk too much and opened the documents in her hand. Her time was very tight. She started at two o'clock and got off work at five o'clock. In three hours, she arranged six A meeting.
As for Bong Joon-ho in front of him, he still had to go through the back door to get an appointment with Sung Tae-hee.
To put it simply, Bong Joon-ho was recommended by Lee Chang-ho, a senior in the Korean film industry.
Lee Jang-ho, like another famous Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek, can be said to be the only local director who can produce good results during the downturn of Korean movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
Bong Joon-ho, 28, has been working in Lee Chang-ho's film studio after graduating from college. In recent years, he has assisted Lee Chang-ho in filming movies while producing some of his own short films.
Like Hollywood, or even more demanding than Hollywood, the Korean film industry makes it very difficult for filmmakers who are not even 30 years old to produce their own feature films on their own.
The main reasons are limited resources and seniority.
A large number of senior directors have no films to make. You can imagine how difficult it is for a young boy to pick up a guide tube on his own. Although South Korea's film quota system last year ushered in a turnaround for Korean domestic films, and capital from all parties began to increase investment in the film industry, the first batch of 'new generation' directors to emerge are basically over 30 years old.
Talking about Bong Joon-ho, Sung Tae-hee had read the script called "Kidnapping the Doorstep Dog" sent by him. This is a black comedy depicting the various entanglements between two people at the bottom of the city and three dogs.
After all, Cheng Taixi had just entered the industry and didn't know anything. After just a few days and nights of research, she came up with a strategy for selecting films.
The cost cannot be too high and it must have box office potential.
In addition, he witnessed the box-office miracles of "The Conjuring" and "The Conjuring 3" in the United States some time ago. When Sung Tae-hee chose the script, he did not limit the genre, but he preferred horror movies in his heart.
Therefore, she only read the script of "Kidnapping the Doorstep Dog" once and eliminated it directly.
The main reason is that Cheng Tae Hee really can't see what's good about it.
Then, Lee Chang-ho personally called her, obviously admiring Bong Joon-ho, and hoped that she could find time to meet him.
Cheng Taixi got the job from Chen Qing, and soon visited some seniors in Korea, such as Lim Kwon Taek, Lee Chang Ho and others. He expressed his intention to cooperate very sincerely and hoped that the other party would help with recommendations.
Since Li Changhao called, Cheng Taixi had to give him this face.
Office reception area.
After quickly browsing the project outline again and recalling the content of the script, Cheng Taixi said: "Mr. Feng..."
"Junhao, senior, if you don't mind, you can call me Junhao."
Cheng Taixi was noncommittal: "First of all, can you tell me the source of your inspiration for this story?"
Bong Joon-ho was sitting at attention, obviously prepared for this problem, and said: "The story comes from a life experience when I was a child. At that time, my family and I lived in a very crowded collective apartment, and we were often disturbed by the neighbor's dog. When I couldn't sleep, I occasionally had the urge to kill all those dogs. Of course, senior, I never really did that. Later, coupled with various other life experiences over the years, I finally came up with this script .”
Sung Tae Hee remained noncommittal and continued: "I have watched several short films you have made before. Everyone said they were very good. Senior Lee Chang Ho also specifically recommended you to me. The problem is, I don't see how this story will attract the audience. Can you tell me?"
Bong Joon-ho nodded quickly, took out a stack of shot drawings from his bag, and handed it to Cheng Taixi respectfully: "Senior, these are some specific shooting ideas that I have recently drawn temporarily. You can take a look first."
Cheng Taixi took it and started reading page by page.
In the first picture, a figure is running along one of the corridors in a tube-shaped apartment, seemingly chasing something. There is a strange sense of joy in the picture.
Sung Tae Hee recalled a little and roughly remembered that this was the detail of the male protagonist chasing the first dog in the script.
Won Joon chases a poodle and runs down a long corridor.
The second picture shows the same Tongzilou apartment, but this time the male and female protagonists are chasing each other, with Yuan Jun in front and Qian Nan behind.
Sung Tae Hee also remembers that this was the detail when Qian Nan, the apartment manager, discovered that the actor dropped a dog from the roof of the building and frantically chased the murderer.
The two pictures and the two shots echo each other, and indeed there is a sense of absurd joy.
Then, in the third picture, on a street, the male protagonist hugged a dog, did a beautiful rollover, and disappeared into the bushes on the street like a scene from some funny cartoons.
Also a very interesting picture.
Cheng Taixi still remembers that this was the plot where Wonjun kidnapped the old lady's fawn dog.
Next, as he continued to scroll down, along with the annotations on the drawings of the scenes, Cheng Taixi gradually understood the comedy style that the young man in front of him probably wanted to express.
Absurd, dark, and all kinds of wonderful coincidences.
Bong Joon-ho waited patiently for Cheng Taixi to finish flipping through the drawings in his hand, looked at himself again, and then continued: "Senior, these drawings are actually the style of "Kidnapping the Dog at the Door" that I want to show, a kind of absurdity and humor that makes people laugh. Coincidentally, this is what attracts audiences to the film. Although it is not mainstream, I believe that many people will recognize it if it is produced. By analogy, about ten years ago, there was a Western movie called "A Fish Named Wanda" "The comedy, the same style, using a fish as the lead of a ridiculous robbery story, it is also a movie starring Sandra Bullock, who became famous with "Run Lola Run", with a very low cost of 7.5 million US dollars, in the United States It grossed more than $60 million at the box office and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director that year. I believe "Kidnapping the Doorstep" has similar potential."
While listening, Cheng Taixi looked through some information about this project again. After Bong Joon-ho finished speaking, he looked up and said: "US$7.5 million is indeed not a very high cost in Hollywood, but your movie requires 10 100 million won, which is equivalent to 500,000 US dollars according to the current exchange rate. Is it a bit high in South Korea?”
Bong Joon-ho felt the looseness in Cheng Taixi's tone, suppressed his excitement, and said patiently: "Senior, 1 billion won is really not high. The current average ticket price in South Korea is 3,500 won. 1 billion won, it only costs about The cost can be recovered with 500,000 moviegoers. Moreover, I think this is a very suitable project to be sent to film festivals in the West, such as Sundance in the United States and Toronto Film Festival in Canada, as long as it can get good reviews. , even if you can't win the award, you can easily recover US$500,000 by selling overseas copyrights for a little bit. If, I mean, if you can win the award, it will be easier to make a profit."
As Bong Joon-ho spoke, he gestured to the surroundings with obvious direction.
This is the Korean headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment.
In fact, it means that as long as he can make a good movie, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely be happy to help run it.
Due to the decline of local films, some Korean filmmakers have also quietly operated overseas in recent years. Although they have not won many awards, due to the exchange rate, as long as they can sell the copyright, they will basically make good gains.
Cheng Taixi also knows this.
After asking for some details again, the half-hour meeting ended quickly. Cheng Taixi finally said: "I will submit your project. However, Mr. Feng, there is one more thing I need to explain in advance. If you want to cooperate with us, , you need to sign a three-film contract at one time, which means that we have priority for your next two films."
"Of course, I understand."
"Then," Cheng Taixi stood up and stretched out his hand towards Bong Joon-ho: "I hope we can reach cooperation."
Bong Joon-ho quickly stood up, still bowing slightly and gently shaking hands with Cheng Taixi, understanding that the other party was seeing off a guest, and then left.
After sending Bong Joon-ho away, Cheng Taixi sorted out the various thoughts from the previous meeting and motioned to his secretary to call the next guest in.
However, this time the two of them had just greeted each other when a noise suddenly broke out outside the building, and the noise was getting louder and louder.
Cheng Taixi frowned, motioned to the filmmaker named Hong Sang-soo in front of him to wait, called his secretary, and asked, "What happened?"
The secretary said: "Someone is protesting the IMF agreement signed this morning."
Cheng Taixi is completely focused on his work these days. He doesn't pay much attention to the negotiations between the Korean government and the IMF. He just remembers eating with his brother and sister-in-law yesterday. They said that the negotiations between the IMF and the authorities will end this morning.
The noise outside the window continued and there was no way to talk about anything, so Cheng Taixi could only come to the window.
I saw a dense crowd outside the window, obviously gathering from the south bank of the Han River and heading towards the Cheong Wa Dae in the north.
The queue lasted for more than ten minutes and finally passed completely.
Through the various signs held up by the crowd, Cheng Taixi roughly understood the various contents of the agreement between the IMF and the Korean authorities.
However, these are not things she cares about.
I am just a little woman and can't change anything. It is best to do my own thing seriously.
Thinking with such self-paralysis, Cheng Taixi waited for the crowd to gradually go away before Cheng Taixi once again motioned for the guests to come to the reception area and sit down.
A middle-aged man in his thirties named Hong Sang-soo obviously didn't care much about politics. He also didn't make any comments. He just smiled and discussed his project with Sung Tae-hee.
This is also a play with a very interesting name, called "The Day the Pig Fell into the Well."
In fact, like Bong Joon-ho, this 37-year-old middle-aged man named Hong Sang-soo was also introduced by contacts in the industry. There is no way, Korea's circle culture, like seniority, involves all aspects, and there is no way to hide.
When Sung Tae Hee and Hong Sang Soo discussed the script, the whole of Seoul was in a state of excitement.
At 10 o'clock this morning, the South Korean government officially reached and signed a rescue agreement with the IMF. The final amount involved was higher than many media expected, reaching a total of 60 billion US dollars, of which the IMF invested 20 billion, and the other 40 billion was contributed by the United States, Japan and other IMF member countries raised funds together with the World Bank.
There is no free lunch in this world.
The huge bailout totaling 60 billion US dollars naturally means a series of harsh side agreements. Even people who don't understand economics at all will understand after reading some of the core clauses what South Korea will lose because of this agreement.
It has only been a few hours since the agreement was signed, and many Korean media have already compared November 20, 1997, with August 29, 1910, the day of national humiliation when South Korea was completely colonized by Japan.